Much Colder Weather Forecast For The Weekend

This afternoon across much of Louisiana sunshine will stream through a few high clouds and the temperatures will reach almost 80 degrees. It will be a beautiful Spring day. The problem, it's November and it's not supposed to be almost 80 degrees.

Fans of snuggly, cozy, gumbo, and feels like Thanksgiving weather will have to wait a few more days to pull out the warm and fuzzy clothing ensembles. Originally forecasters thought the cooler weather would arrive in Louisiana at the beginning of next week but the cold front that is the catalyst for this temperature change is moving more rapidly than expected.

This is going to usher in some much colder air, in fact, probably some of the coldest temperatures we’ve seen this season so far. We’re going to have minimum temperatures in the 30s across most of Louisiana by Sunday and Monday.

Barry Keim is the state's climatologist and he told the Louisiana Radio Network that Saturday appears to be the day of transistion. Temperatures will top out in the middle 60's across the state but a brisk northerly breeze will make it feel much colder than the actual air temperature. Then comes the much colder weather for Sunday.

Once we switch gears and have a front come through and start ushering in the Canadian air, the Canadian air is getting pretty darn cold right now. It’s at this time of year we can swing back between those two conditions over a very short period of time.

I think it’s more than likely going to come through fairly dry across most of Louisiana and that’s a problem because we really could use the rain across the state because the drought is really starting to sneak up on us and is starting to cause us some problems.

Because of those drier than normal conditions there is a burn ban that covers all but four parishes in our state. So, even though a nice bonfire would feel really nice over the weekend, it's going to be better to keep that fire contained to a fire pit as we abruptly return to winter like temperatures across the state.